Our forests ought to be put to work and kept at work. I do not minimize the obstacles that have to be met, nor the difficulty of changing old ideas and practices. We must all put our hands to this common task. It is not enough that the Federal, State and local governments take the lead. There must be a change in our national attitude. Our industries, our landowners, our farmers, all our citizens must learn to treat our forests as crops-to be used but also to be renewed. We must learn to tend our woodlands as carefully as we tend our farms.

Let us apply to the creative task the boundless energy and skill we have so long spent in harvesting the free gifts of nature. The forests of the future must be started today. Our children are dependent on our course. We are bound by a solemn obligation from which no evasion and no subterfuge will relieve us. Unless we fulfill our sacred responsibility to unborn generations, unless we use with gratitude and with restraint the generous and kindly gifts of Divine Providence, we shall prove ourselves unworthy guardians of a heritage we hold in trust.

Now, therefore, I, Calvin Coolidge, President of the United States, do recommend to the Governors of the various States to designate and set apart the week of April 27-May 3, inclusive, 1925, as American Forest Week, and wherever practicable and not in conflict with State law or accepted customs, to celebrate Arbor Day within that week. And I urge public officials, public and business associations, industrial leaders, forest owners, editors, educators and all patriotic citizens to unite in the common task of forest conservation and renewal.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington this twenty-first day of February, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and twenty-five, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and forty-ninth. CALVIN COOLIDGE.

By the President.

CHARLES E. HUGHES,

Secretary of State.

The observance of the week thus proclaimed will be fostered by the U. S. Forest Service, the American Forestry Association, the National Lumber Manufacturers Association, the General Federation of Women's Club, the Isaac Walton Club, and a large number of other organizations, represented by delegates upon a general committee headed by Hon. Frank O. Lowden of Illinois. The object of the observance is educational. It is expected that every local club, chamber or association having national affiliations will be supplied with educational matter so that during the period set aside for its observance the American Forest Week movement will have an intensive observance all over the United States. In addition to local activities there will be much national publicity, including radio talks, speeches by men of national prominence, posters, etc.

One reason leading to this cooperative movement is that heretofore there has been a bewildering mass of material coming from many sources-much of it contradictory and misleading-and it is believed that with the American Forest Week Committee originating and supervising publicity that will be authoritative and free from interest other than that of good citizenship and sound national economy, stimulus will be given to constructive thought throughout the nation that will take forestry out of the realm of conservation and put it into actual practice,

The National Forest Service

The reference under the preceding heading to confusing information may be illustrated by two contrasting statements. Circular No. 112 of the Department of Agriculture entitled "Timber Depletion and the Answer" published in 1920 is authority for the statement that we are taking 26 billion cubic feet of material out of the forests every year and growing only about six billion feet in them; in other words that the forests are being consumed more than four times as fast as they are being reproduced. In an article in the Outlook for March 4, 1925, Mr. W. B. Greeley, Chief of the United States Forest Service, says that plans for the management of the National Forests "have been instituted under which mature timber will be cut in an orderly way on each natural unit and reforestation assured. The cut on each unit is limited to what it is producing by growth." The apparent contradiction between these statements may be reconciled, perhaps, by considering the former as applying to all the forests of the country in the recent past and the latter to the present situation in the National Forests. It will be reassuring to the American public to know certainly that the National Forests are not sharing in the progressive depletion which characterizes most of the privately owned forests of the country.

Many other statements in Mr. Greeley's article are of popular interest. The National Forests cover 157,000,000 acres and contain about one-fifth of the standing timber in the United States. During the calendar year of 1923, the cut amounted to 1,037,000,000 board feet. The timber is sold at rates varying from 25 cents a cord for dead chestnut trees salvaged in the Southern Appalachians to $12.50 per thousand board feet for white pine in Idaho and $15 or more for ash in the White Mountains. Every sale of more than $100 worth of timber is advertised for competitive bids. In all larger contracts a forest ranger or an experienced lumberman in the Government employ supervises the logging and measures the timber. Every log is scaled, numbered and entered in the records of sale.

For the protection of the forests, the Forest Service has constructed about 31,000 miles of telephone line and is completing the 7,000 miles still needed as fast as it can. Ninety-four lookout houses for detecting forest fires have been built, and 166 more of these structures are required.

Some of the expenditures of the Forest Service in 1924 were as follows: Preventing and extinguishing fires $1,930,000; supervising timber cuttings, $661,000; supervising the grazing of 9,000,000 sheep and cattle, $641,000; making surveys, maps and appraisals of timber, $425,000; forest nurseries and tree planting, over $196,000 ; camp ground improvements and sanitation, $18,421; administration of recreation and land use, $113,185.

The question of how far the National Forests shall be used for recreational purposes has been the subject of recent public discussion. The Forest Service has no specialized or highly developed scheme of recreation but believes in such use of the forests, and has

about 1,500 camp grounds for public use. These camp sites are being gradually improved at an average cost of about $150 each, so as to make them safe from the risk of fire and to provide the simplest of sanitary and other conveniences. The Forest Service appreciates the fact that the fire risk increases with the growing number of people who go into the forests; at the same time, it does not believe that the 157,000,000 acres of National Forests should be locked up against recreational use on that account. On the other hand, it does not believe in going to the other extreme of managing the forests mainly for recreational purposes. Mr. Greeley says that the policy of the Service is in harmony with the resolution adopted on May 24, 1924, by the National Conference on Outdoor Recreation, called by President Coolidge, which contained the following:

"The resources of National Forests, including recreation, should be developed to the greatest possible extent consistent with permanent productivity in such a way as to insure the highest use of all parts of the area involved."

IN HAWAII

Capt. Cook Memorial Highway Proposed

In November, 1924, the territorial authorities of Hawaii received from Sir Joseph Hector Carruthers, K. C. M. G., former Premier of New South Wales, a request for permission for the building of a highway to the scene of the death of Capt. James Cook, the British explorer, in 1779. The proposed highway is to be a tribute to Capt. Cook's memory by the people of Australia. Sir Joseph, who is now President of the Chamber of Agriculture of New South Wales, has for many years been interested in cherishing the memory of the great navigator and explorer. He believes that "no man born of English parents deserves more credit" than Capt. Cook who, among other accomplishments, surveyed the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Botany Bay. Through his efforts a shrine to Cook's memory has been erected in Australia, and now he desires to have built a memorial highway leading to the spot on Kalekakua Bay on the Kona coast of the Island of Hawaii where the explorer was killed by the natives. The place of Cook's death is now marked by a monument, but it is accessible only by outrigger boat. The memory of Capt. Cook is not held in universal esteem by native Hawaiians because they say he allowed their ancestors to worship him as a deity and permitted his men to commit outrages upon the natives. The accounts of the explorer's death say that after he was killed his body was dismembered and his bones were distributed among the principal native chiefs. Sir Joseph purposes to build a good road from the Belt Highway, a famous scenic, round-the-island-thoroughfare, to the monument and to establish a park, at the expense of Australia, which may become a shrine to English-speaking peoples, to serve as a closer link of friendship between America and Great Britain and to bind more closely the friendship between the Territory of Hawaii and the Commonwealth of Australia.

IN ENGLAND

Repair of the Roof of Westminster Hall

The American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society is under an unusual obligation of gratitude to Sir Frank Baines, C. V. O.. C. B. E., Director of His Majesty's Office of Works, for the following information concerning the history and the repair of the roof of Westminster Hall which was completed a little over a year ago. The roof of this famous building is now about five and a third centuries old, and its timbers had become so honeycombed by the beetle called the "Death Watch" that is was insecure. Under the direction of the Office of Works the timbers were chemically treated so as to prevent further damage by the insects and were reinforced with concealed steel, thus performing most literally an important work of "historic preservation." The work covered a period of about eight years. The detailed explanation of the methods employed and of the chemical formulas used are of unusual interest and value, and will, no doubt, serve as a useful guide in the preservation of old woodwork in the United States.

Sir Frank considers Westminster Hall as the greatest historical monument possessed by the Nation. Its history goes back certainly for nearly 830 years, and it contains in its structure a great deal of the first work of the master masons of King William Rufus. He says that its very stones, if they should become vocal, could speak of great and outstanding events in the history of the English people. It saw Charles I face his Roundhead judges, denying their right to try a king. It heard the impeachment of Warren Hastings, the beginning of whose trial was attended by the great actress Siddons in all her incomparable beauty; further back in its history it had seen Sir Thomas More and other great ones leave its door for the Tower; and eventually for the block. It was here that the Coronation feasts were held, when the King's Champion made entrance on horseback, man and horse in full armor, and threw down his gage, and announced himself ready to fight any challenger of the King.

The date of the hall was definitely fixed by an entry in the Saxon Chronicle. King William Rufus commenced its erection in 1097, three hundred years before Richard II built his great roof, existing to the present day. The walls retained in this structure much of the original work of the walls of King William Rufus' Hall. King William Rufus at this time (1097) was undertaking three great works, the taxes in respect of which pressed heavily upon the shires. One of these works was the repair of Old London Bridge. said to be "all awash," another the building of the great wall around the Tower, and the third the erection of the Kings Hall at Westminster. King Rufus' hall was probably roofed in three bays, not in one gigantic span as at present; and its walls had a wonderful continuous arcading, with windows and a wall walk or passage. During the three hundred years that elapsed between

King William Rufus' work and that of Richard II the roof of the former presumably fell into decay, for in 1393, Richard II instructed his clerk John Godmestone to undertake the repair of the Kings Hall and to gather such workmen as he needed for this purpose, with power to commandeer labor and imprison all "contrariants." That entry was dated July, 1393. At that time labor was Guild Labor and apparently could be commandeered; and the best of the King's craftsmen were sought out for the purpose. The master carpenter selected for the work was Hugh Herland, one of the great carpenters of the world. His work was exceptional because there was no record of any pre-existing example of a timber roof of this scale and design to guide him. He had to construct the roof from very insufficient data. Roofs of later date than that of "Westminster Hall," such as that of the hall of Eltham Palace, the Great Hall at Hampton Court and the hall of the Middle Temple, though similar in type, are inferior in design and in the scientific principle of the design. The roof of Westminster Hall is unsurpassed as the first example of an open timber framed structure in the world. It represents a "peak" period of mediaeval carpentry. It is perfect as to scale, design and the underlying theory of that incomparable design.

The great master carpenter, Hugh Herland, was probably seventy years old when he undertook this work. He was a selected King's craftsman and dealt directly with the King. The architect as known to-day did not exist. The craftsmen designed and executed the work themselves; and had the right of direct approach to the client, who in this case was the King. His Majesty also granted. "a little house" within the precincts of his palace at Westminster where Herland could lead a life of quiet and study his models and drawings. The character of Herland's problem was dictated by the size of the scantlings of oak which he could obtain for the building of the roof. The principal rafters for example are 67 feet 6 inches long; and the main collar beam is forty feet long, and weighs four tons. Herland could not get these members in one timber and they were therefore built of two timbers.

After the lapse of over five centuries, the danger of the collapse of a portion of the roof became evident by the distortion of the timbers from their original position, by the dropping of the hammer beams at their free ends to the extent of from 10 to 14 inches, by the distortion and thrusting outwards of the main curved brace, by the dropping of the ridge beam to the extent of eighteen inches, and by the actual lifting of the hammer beams from the wall head. Certain of the purlins had deflected under their load to the extent of eight inches and were completely fractured. As a result of general distortion and strain of the roof timbers, one of the main corbels which supports the great curved brace and wall post had been sheared through vertically thereby adding to the danger of collapse to that truss.

Upon examination it was found that the ends of many principal